An interesting post (with some pushback in comments) on James Clapper’s classified blog

uring his tenure as the Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper has maintained a classified blog. It’s called “Intercept,” and is only accessible to people within the intelligence community with clearance to access the government intelink site. It even offers a secret RSS feed so analysts will never miss a post. Clapper’s Intercept blog has no relationship to The Intercept, except that he hates pretty much everything we stand for. In one of his posts, written in May 2013 and obtained by The Intercept, Clapper posted a handwritten letter he says he received from “a constituent in Nevada.” It’s unclear what makes this person a constituent since Clapper was not elected to any office. In any case, this constituent “discusses supporting the IC’s [Intelligence Community’s] position on civil liberties” in the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombing.

“If the american [sic] people are not willing to release some freedoms, they cannot blame the IC when they can’t stop” domestic terror attacks because of the intelligence agencies “having their hands tied by Law [sic] & policy,” the “constituent” wrote. He adds that Americans “cannot have your cake and eat it too,” and then offers what has become a dangerous cliche in the post-Snowden mentality of the intelligence community: “So if one has nothing to hide why would a little government watching for mass protection be such a big question.” The letter ends: “WE SUPPORT YOU.”

That someone in the U.S. would write such a letter to Clapper is not controversial. A lot of people have made this same ridiculous argument over and over. But Clapper’s response to the letter, which he also shared on his Intercept blog, is not surprising, but nonetheless disturbing. “I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your letter,” Clapper wrote. “I say this on behalf of all the women and men of the Intelligence Community. In my view you have very accurately described THE issue that the Boston Bombings represent: Just how small do the American people want the holes in the security fish net to be?”

But soon after Clapper’s post, it became clear he did not actually speak for “all of the women and men” in the intelligence community. . .

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